16. Bumps on cup covers

Usually, there are several cups of drinks waiting for clients in a kitchen, and they’re covered so they don’t cool. To know what’s inside without opening the cups, employees look at these bumps with the name of the drink written on them. This is also convenient for the buyer because you can find your drink among others.

15. Cedar hangers

Have you ever wondered why until now most of the market is occupied by wooden hangers, which could be replaced by plastic? It turns out that cedar contains natural oils that repel moths, thereby keeping your things safe.

14. The top of chopsticks

Many believe that the piece of wood at the top is a stand for the chopsticks. In fact, you can see it only on disposable sticks. It shows that no one has used them before, and the packing machine can’t pack only one stick.

12. Sunglasses

In China, dark glasses have been used since the 12th century but not for sun protection: they were used to avoid the glances of others.Judges wore such glasses during trials so that no one could see their emotions.

11. Frisbee

In their free time, students at Yale University played with tin pie dishes by the Frisbie Pie Company. The name "Frisbee" was so popular among students that Wham-O representatives renamed their flying discs (launched in 1957) to Frisbee.

10. Brandy

Brandy, as we know it today, first appeared in the 12th century. Initially, the distillation of wine was a method of its preservation, which simplified transportation. Before consumption, water was added to the brandy to get wine again. However, it turned out that wooden barrels made the product better than the wine from which it was obtained.

9. Bubble wrap

Today bubble wrap is used to protect fragile objects. However, in 1957, Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes tried to invent a new material for wallpaper, which could be easily cleaned. Later it was sold to IBM as packing material, and the company began to wrap its computers in it.

8. Pillows

The pillow was invented so that insects couldn’t get into the nose, ears, and mouth of sleeping people. The ancient Chinese used firm pillows because soft ones were believed to drain the body of energy. Africans believed that a pillow could help you talk to your ancestors in a dream. European men didn’t use pillows because they were considered a symbol of weakness.

7. T-shirt

During WWII, T-shirts were used as underwear. To appear in a tee in public was like walking naked. The stereotype was broken in 1951 in the film A Streetcar Named Desire, with Marlon Brando appearing in a white T-shirt in almost every frame. Over time, the T-shirt became outerwear.

5. Webcam

The first webcam was invented in 1991 and showed a coffee maker. At Cambridge University, the whole team of the scientific project participants had only one coffee maker, and it was on another floor. When they wanted coffee, they could look to see when it was brewing: an image that was updated three times a minute appeared on the remote computer.

4. Tea bag

The tea bag was accidentally invented by the merchant Thomas Sullivan in 1904. Tea was sold in large tin cans, but Sullivan decided it would be more beneficial to sell small packs and used silk bags as containers. New York restaurateurs found it convenient to brew tea right in the new packages.

3. Rivets on jeans

Rivets are not just a decoration. When the first pairs of jeans appeared, laborers wore denim during work, but hard labor caused their pants to fall apart quickly. Fortunately, a solution was found: studs strengthening the areas that endured the most strain. The riveted pants became a huge success. As we still wear them nowadays, you can imagine how revolutionary they turned out to be.

2. Fidget spinner

The fidget spinner became popular in 2017, although similar devices were invented back in 1993. Initially, its creation was attributed to Catherine Hettinger, who made a toy for her daughter from newspaper and sticky tape. Fidget spinners are now believed to be anti-stress toys for people who have problems with concentration and symptoms of anxiety.